March 5 & 6 2008: Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL

[sharonelizabeth]

I had a great time at the show last night. Wanted to go back tonight, but couldn't make it. I loved the entire show. Highlights were definately Sally and Thousands. Plus no one mentioned TWO ENCORES! Very cool. Long live The Pogues!

[O'Loingseachan]

What was the setlist?

Iain

I think these are all the songs they played; I can't vouch for the order. I know Streams of Whiskey was first, and Fiesta was last; those who remember better will have to straighten out the order of everything in between.

Streams of Whiskey
Dark Streets of London
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Sayonara
Tuesday Morning
Greenland Whale Fisheries
Dirty Old Town
Sunnyside of the Street
Kitty
Thousands Are Sailing
Repeal of the Licensing Laws
Love You Till the End
A Pair of Brown Eyes
Body of An American
Sally MacLennane
Boys From the County Hell
Poor Paddy
Rainy Night In Soho
Sickbed of Cuchulainn
Bottle of Smoke
The Irish Rover
Star of the County Down
Fiesta

[Guest]

What was the setlist?

Can you help us out with this Philip? Did Dirty Old Town make the cut this year? My 6 year old is hoping to hear it in Boston...

Yep they played Dirty Old Town - and it sounded great. Let us know how the Boston show goes. Cheers.

[sharonelizabeth]

Thanks for coming back guys. Hope we can do it again soon.

[moose]

I just glanced over the miserable Hoekstra review.What a bunch of bunk!
I seriously doubt he was there,If he was ,maybe in an altered state of mind.Back to the "Travel for octogenarians"section,Mr. Hoekstra...
I'm writing that,not because I'm a hopeless,blinded,non-critical Pogue fan,but besause I WAS there yesterday!
They played their hearts out,barely slowing down at all,to the last number of the second encore!
They sounded great, passionate and gave a great performance!
If Mr Hoekstra failed to notice that,mayby he shoud take a train to country side and compose something about life of kittens.
Train wreck,my ass.
Great,great show.
Thank you, Pogues!

Glad that all you guys are having a good time over there. In regards to Journs reviews, it really does not matter, they all write the same sort of shit anyway, it is rare that there is any originality anywhere. Sometimes i wonder if they just Google the Pogues and write their reviews accordingly This arse is still calling it a reunion gig...how many years since they got bact together
Lend me ten pounds and i'll write you a review

[skier mike]

Can't wait to see them again in Boston on 3/19. Going with my wife, daughter and two friends, and just saw the set list Sunnyside is my daughter's favorite, Thousands are Sailing is my my wife's second favorite (FTONY is our favorite, it was our wedding song). Looking forward to the classics plus Poor Paddy, Sayonara, and Sickbed, three of my favorites. Loved them last year in Boston, Star of the County Down is absolutely one the highlights.

[OrionSafari]

The Thursday show was great, as expected. The acoustics in the Riviera left much to be desired, but the show was still amazing. Ike Reilly was an impressive opening act. I downloaded one of the albums a week before the show and was able to listen to most of it, but the live set was much better. Did someone say he was from Chicago?

One major problem with the Riviera: The ran out of Guinness before The Pogues even got on stage. The Borgata in Atlantic City had the same problem in 2006. Can someone please inform the venue management for future shows that when they really, really, need to load up on Guinness for these shows? It's not quite the same listening to Streams of Whiskey while drinking a Heineken.

[KCPyrate]

Wednesday March 5th was amazing! The crowd definitely got restless waiting between Ike Reilly and the Pogues but the saying is true, good things come to those who wait! I was ecstatic to hear so many of my favorite songs live for the first time. Great set list, the only one I hoped for but missed was "Young Ned Of The Hill" but I was far from disappointed. Highlights of the show for me were: Seeing Philip back, especially his beautiful rendition of "Thousands are Sailing", Seeing Shane's energy and clowning around with his top-hat, and Spider's tray slamming antics during an energetic performance of "Fiesta" what a song to end on! The whole show was great. I just wish I could have had the opportunity to go back Thursday as well. Thanks guys! What an experience!

[Clash Cadillac]

Ike Reilly was an impressive opening act. I downloaded one of the albums a week before the show and was able to listen to most of it, but the live set was much better. Did someone say he was from Chicago?

Yes, he was born in Libertyville, IL a northern suburb of Chicago.

[Zuzana]

Here are some fan reviews of the Chicago shows that have surfaced online:

By "Boy from the County Hell" (Friday, March 7, 2008, Full URL)

Came on all you rambling boys of pleasure, and ladies of easy leisure
Wow. Got back from Chicago at 4 this morning. That was an awesome show.
(...)
Got some great seats on the balcony, two rows from the front. Show was supposed to come on at 7:30. 8 went by, and I started getting antsy. Finally, the opening act came on. Not impressed. They were called the Ike Reilly Assassination. Ike Reilly is like John Dylan, if John Dylan only had a fraction of his normal talent, and sold out to do pop songs. After they were done, it took 45 minutes to change the instruments out. By the time they were done, I was getting pretty pissed, and impatient.

When Shane stepped out on stage, though, all was forgiven. Let me say, I understand that Shane is no longer a capable, or even acceptable, singer. Back in the day, before he rotted away from boredom and booze, he was barely passable as a singer. His gift was in writing songs. Now that appears to be gone, too. He exists now purely as a personality. But what a personality. He came out on stage in a top hat, and the crowd went nuts. His vocals were better than I feared, but I can't imagine anyone not already familiar with them being able to make them out. When he spoke to the crowd, he was so slurred I didn't understand a word he said all night.

After the awe of seeing Shane passed, what really struck me were the other members of the band. James Fearnley is, in a word, phenomenal. He plays accordian like Angus Young plays guitar. He runs around, he jumps onto and off of things; he did a jump from the drum kit and landed on his knees that should have put him down. The man is simply amazing.

Spider Stacey was spot-on, but I feel bad for the man. He's the tin whistler for the band. About 2/3 of their catalog has a tin whistle, and even those only have chunks of it. The man has spent half his life whistling for 15 seconds at a time, then tapping his whistle against his thigh in time to the song.

Phil Chevron was great, and his vocals on Thousands are Sailing were spectacular. I'd only heard Shane's version, and it's a completely different (and better) song with Phil singing.

They did two 3-song encores, and the second one included Star of the County Down, one of my favorite songs, and one I'm relatively sure the Pogues have never recorded. It was a fantastic rendition. I'm pretty sure that if the band had been willing to do more encores, they'd probably still be playing. The crowd was nuts. There was a huge fight in front of us, where two drunk (middle-aged) women nearly came to blows, and their families started lining up for a tussle. Thankfully a security guy broke it up before it got ugly.

Overall, a real blast of a show. It was great to see Shane, but in all honesty, the real show was the rest of the band. There was a chemistry there that even I, totally musically stupid, could see. They're all immensely talented artists, and it was an honor to see them do their thing.

By "MrsJenPeters" (Friday, March 7, 2008, Full URL)

the mighty pogues
(...) the ike reilly assassination opened, and they kinda sucked. they were pretty boring. the group also seemed to have of an identity crisis: there was the mod, the shoe gazer, the balding guy, and the junior banker (the lead singer was wearing a button down shirt and pleated dockers, both too big for him... very momma dressed me in my big brother's hand me downs). they were trying to act all hard, saying they loved "drinking and burning shit", and singing about dying, but no one believed them (not a single one of them had a drink on stage, losers). there was a group of well behaved guys in front of us, who kept heckling the band, to our amusement.

as we waited for the pogues to come on, bryan looked up the review for the previous night's performance. they came on late and apparently weren't good. we think maybe the reviewer wasn't a pogues fan or just wasn't familiar, because our show was awesome!

they came on shortly after 9. shane came slowly, wearing a black suit, sunglasses, and a top hat, carrying a "coffee" mug. every few songs, shane would leave the stage, and the band would do a song or two without him. between the brogue and the drink, you couldn't understand much of what shane mumbled between songs, though i did catch "fucking", "tossers", and "dirty old town." they were phenomenal. at the end of the set, shane attacked his microphone with his top hat, and knocked it down. they came out and performed their first encore, at the end of which shane mocked hanging himself with the microphone cord (and needed some help getting untangled). they ended with the song siesta, and banged tin lids from the food service tray on their heads to make the proper percussion noises. after their second and final encore, shane sent drinks into the crowd (he had a bottle of wine and some cup on the stage with him).

[Billy]

[quote="Zuzana"]

"Then Shane stepped out on stage, though, all was forgiven. Let me say, I understand that Shane is no longer a capable, or even acceptable, singer. Back in the day, before he rotted away from boredom and booze, he was barely passable as a singer. His gift was in writing songs. Now that appears to be gone, too. He exists now purely as a personality. But what a personality. He came out on stage in a top hat, and the crowd went nuts. His vocals were better than I feared, but I can't imagine anyone not already familiar with them being able to make them out. When he spoke to the crowd, he was so slurred I didn't understand a word he said all night"

RESPONCE: I saw the group in 1987 and I saw them in 2007 and now in 2008. Shane’s voice was the best in 2007 and pretty good in 2008 (3/6) and both were better than 1987 a time you characterize as "Back in the day, before he rotted away from boredom and booze, he was barely passable as a singer" Have you ever heard Tom Waits live? Most rock singers (Mick Jagger etc) have gravel ridden voices as a "style" of singing, the criteria of good / bad here is about the phrasing. But as you characterize yourself below as "totally musically stupid" I won't go further here.

"There was a huge fight in front of us, where two drunk (middle-aged) women nearly came to blows, and their families started lining up for a tussle. Thankfully a security guy broke it up before it got ugly."

RESPONSE: Dear "Boy from County Hell" There was no huge fight; there was a scuffle at best. It started with a guy jumping over a row of seats screaming senselessly that Shane was lip-synching (and that observation speaks for itself) then he would not leave and started lifting the seat of one Women so if she sat down she would fall. When the man finally went back to his row his girl friend hit the women in front of her and then another women in front got into it and then the whole family got up and the guy was pretty shocked on that score. A security guard did not break up the fight as they were useless all night long except when it came to oppressing the sprit of the evening by focusing on petty things like keeping your legs off the rail or moving around, or cheering to loud??? etc. The evening was marked by several such oversights as running out of Guinness, no food of any kind, the sound was mixed bad etc. Bottom line with the scuffle is that I was the one to calm it down and directed everyone to sit down and calm down as the perpetrator held back his abusive girlfriend in fear when he realized he picked on an entire clan. Bottom line: when security did come they removed the guy and his abusive girlfriend not the family. You may want to pick an new blogger name if this minor thing upset you.


Overall, a real blast of a show. It was great to see Shane, but in all honesty, the real show was the rest of the band. There was a chemistry there that even I,totally musically stupid, could see. They're all immensely talented artists, and it was an honor to see them do their thing.

RESPONSE: If you are really "totally musically stupid" why are critiquing a musical show???

My 2 cents: The show was amazing as is usual for this group. Last year however was magical and the venue was better and not so oppressive. Live Nation understood their audience, Jam is a bunch of greedy ... They have a long history of "issues" at shows they produce (e.g. in Tinley Park etc). I hope the Pogues go back to live nation. The Pogues on a bad night are better then most on their best. BTW, I don't believe it is correct to say Shane has lost anything, most great writers (Hunter / Garcia; Gershwin Brothers, Lennon & McCarthy etc) have their time of great writing and then its over, and sometimes they have one more spurt so ya never know...

[Billy]

I just glanced over the miserable Hoekstra review.What a bunch of bunk!
I seriously doubt he was there,If he was ,maybe in an altered state of mind.Back to the "Travel for octogenarians"section,Mr. Hoekstra...
I'm writing that,not because I'm a hopeless,blinded,non-critical Pogue fan,but besause I WAS there yesterday!
They played their hearts out,barely slowing down at all,to the last number of the second encore!
They sounded great, passionate and gave a great performance!
If Mr Hoekstra failed to notice that,mayby he shoud take a train to country side and compose something about life of kittens.
Train wreck,my ass.
Great,great show.
Thank you, Pogues!

Glad that all you guys are having a good time over there. In regards to Journs reviews, it really does not matter, they all write the same sort of shit anyway, it is rare that there is any originality anywhere. Sometimes i wonder if they just Google the Pogues and write their reviews accordingly This arse is still calling it a reunion gig...how many years since they got bact together
Lend me ten pounds and i'll write you a review

Hoekstra is a goofball. The media is totaly out of control, always has been.

[Clash Cadillac]

Finally, the opening act came on. Not impressed. They were called the Ike Reilly Assassination. Ike Reilly is like John Dylan, if John Dylan only had a fraction of his normal talent, and sold out to do pop

the ike reilly assassination opened, and they kinda sucked. they were pretty boring. the group also seemed to have of an identity crisis: there was the mod, the shoe gazer, the balding guy, and the junior banker (the lead singer was wearing a button down shirt and pleated dockers, both too big for him... very momma dressed me in my big brother's hand me downs). they were trying to act all hard, saying they loved "drinking and burning shit", and singing about dying, but no one believed them (not a single one of them had a drink on stage, losers). there was a group of well behaved guys in front of us, who kept heckling the band, to our amusement.

Sad to see these reviews of Ike. He plays Minneapolis frequently and all my friends there love him. I saw him do a free solo show in downtown St. Paul last summer and I thought he was brilliant. Ike happened to wander into the bar where we were drinking after the show and I spoke with him for a bit. He is a great guy.

[Zuzana]

RESPONSE: If you are really "totally musically stupid" why are critiquing a musical show???

Does one need to have a degree in musicology to write a personal review of a gig?

[OrionSafari]

They did two 3-song encores, and the second one included Star of the County Down, one of my favorite songs, and one I'm relatively sure the Pogues have never recorded.

This song can be found on the expanded version of Peace and Love.

Spider Stacey was spot-on, but I feel bad for the man. He's the tin whistler for the band. About 2/3 of their catalog has a tin whistle, and even those only have chunks of it. The man has spent half his life whistling for 15 seconds at a time, then tapping his whistle against his thigh in time to the song.

Were you there when Spider sang his songs? Spider does plenty more than play whistle for the band - he's a great songwriter himself and much of The Pogue's early work was a collaboration between Spider and Shane. And let's not forget the Pogue Mahone album where Spider took over most of the lead singing role in Shane's absence. As for the show Thursday, Spider whistled, sang backup on most songs, sang lead on a couple and percussed with the beer tray during Fiesta, as per usual. Don't feel bad for a man who does not and should not feel bad for himself.

Sad to see these reviews of Ike. He plays Minneapolis frequently and all my friends there love him

I thought the Ike Reilly set was very good. If I have the chance to see the band play again, I'll jump on it. I'd like to see how they are headlining a smaller venue.

I saw the "fight" as well - it was a few rows in front of me. As fights go, it was pathetic, but it was annoying that instead of having only one large woman standing up and acting stupid, blocking everyone's view, we had several at that time.